1796 No Stars Capped Bust $2.50 Quarter Eagle

The first quarter eagles (face value of $2.50)
were minted in 1796. Precise records were not kept of the earliest
deliveries, but researchers have pieced together evidence to suggest
that in 1796, a total of 963 quarter eagles with no obverse stars were
produced, followed by another 432 having obverse stars.

There was little demand for quarter eagles in the 1790’s: the
denomination was too big for ordinary commerce, but too small for bank
transactions. This explains the miniscule output of Capped Bust Quarter
Eagles.

The 1796 Capped Bust Quarter Eagle No Stars is
one of the biggest
attention getters in all of United States numismatics.

It seems as if some collectors will pay any price to acquire a genuine
example of this
elusive key date. A long history of spectacular price increases is
proof of its popularity.

1796 No Stars Capped Bust $2.50 Quarter Eagle (F-12 Condition)

The blue line above shows the percent
value increase of the 1796 No Stars Capped Bust Quarter Eagle (in F-12
condition), starting at Year 2000 as a baseline. As you can see, this
classic US coin rarity has multiplied in value many times, attesting to
its true scarcity and popularity with collectors. Expect more of the
same in the future. Contrast the blue line with the red line, which
illustrates the percent increase over the same time period of the Rare Coin Values Index, which measures the
collective performance of a cross-sectional group of 87 rare US coins.
The idea of the Index is to estimate the strength and direction of the
overall rare US coin market. The 1796 No Stars Capped Bust Quarter
Eagle is one of the 87 coins included in the Index. All data is updated
monthly.

Lately, the Rare Coin Values Index is behaving like it thinks its the Dow Jones. That would be an exaggeration of course, because the Index is not climbing at THAT meteoric pace, but it has now closed…